In The Office
by sweetest angel
Summary: sequel of the story "in the elevator". Sorry, summary will come later...
1. Chap1: I don't want to go, part 1

Hello everyone!

So this is the first chapter of the sequel of my story « in the elevator », which I decided to name « In the office ». I know, really original! . Oh, well.

As I said before, if you have ideas or opinion for the sequel, don't hesitate, feel free to inform me! ^^

Well, now here is the chapter 1! :D

Thanks to **Ryuumahou **for her corrections! ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. *sigh*

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**_Chapter 1: I don't want to go, part 1_**

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Birds were chirping, happily announcing the morning. The sun was filtering through the pink curtains of her bedroom's window, making it difficult to ignore. The 'lump' under the sheets groaned and rolled over, trying desperately to block out all the sound and the light from her warm cocoon. That way, she had the illusion, albeit ephemeral, that it wasn't Monday morning and that she didn't have to go back to that..._place_...and face all the employees who knew what happened in that little elevator; or even worst, to have to face 'Him', her new boss. She buried her head more firmly in her pillow, wishing with all her might that morning wasn't already there and that everything was just a dream.

She couldn't even think about that place without thinking of Him and then of what happened between them in this elevator from his very own building, turning beet red at the thought. Then come the mortification and the nagging doubt crawled up in her, making her even more ready to just burry herself deep in her warm sheets until the end of her life. But apparently a Kami up there wasn't agreeing with her new choice of life as a knock could be head against her door.

"Kagome, wake up, dear, or you will be late for your first day of work," came the gentle voice of Mrs. Higurashi from the other side of the door.

The 'lump' under the covers, known as Kagome, groaned her misery. It was loud enough to be heard from the other side of the pink door of her all pink bedroom.

The bedroom hadn't changed one a bit from when she was just a little girl, thus explaining the pink. Her friend, Sango, often laughed at her, pointing out that it seemed as if the time had frozen inside those pink walls. Sango couldn't understand why she hadn't changed at least the color, but just the thought of having to push out all her furniture and all the work to just change her 'wall's clothes', as she used to say when she was little, was enough to convince her that the pink would stay where it was. But in fact, it was more because she still had the images of her father when he had put the wallpaper on, when she had been old enough to have a 'grow up' bed. It was one of the rare vivid memories of her father being alive that she still had and she wasn't ready to risk losing it.

Kagome had the feeling that her mother knew that she wasn't ready to abandon her childhood bedroom as of yet. Maybe, it was the reason behind the fact that her mother hadn't, even once, tried to convince her to change something in her bedroom for something more suited for a young woman. The room was her little sanctuary and she still wasn't ready to put it behind her.

At the other side of the door, Mrs. Higurashi took the groan of her daughter as a 'yes,' but she sighed as she turned around and went back downstairs. Her daughter had been acting really strange since her return that early Saturday's morning. She was really worried for her.

She had been worried sick when her daughter hadn't come back or at least given her a call to tell her that she wasn't coming home. It wasn't like her daughter at all.

In the end, late than night, or early in the morning depending of how you see that, several hours before the rising of the sun, she had called the police saying that her daughter hadn't come back from her job's interview in town. After more persuasion and a phone call at every person who knew her daughter that she was aware of, the cops then finally went towards the Takahashi's building from more information.

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A strange big man had taken the night shift at his post after Shippo day's shift. At a moment in the early morning, he received a call from the police.

He informed them that he'd just arrived but that he hadn't any proof that she had effectively really left the building, the register been sign for her entry but not when she was supposed to leave. The security's men then were called in and with the cops they went to look at every level. During this time, the big man was viewing the videos of the security cameras to try to find any trace of the missing woman.

That was how, after a couple of hours of viewing, he finally had seen the moment of when she entered the little elevator from the right. Most of the time, this elevator was only used by their boss and the oldest employees, used to its 'simplicity'. The strange occurrence was that she had never walked out of it.

Pushed only by pure curiosity, he looked for the last time the door had opened to see if someone else could be in with her. That's when he saw that just before Kagome walked in, to his surprise and mortification, he saw Sesshoumaru Takahashi, his boss entering the elevator. That meant that he had let his boss be trapped all night in a little elevator. He was dead.

"Fuck!"

He immediately reached for the walky-talky to call the security guards back.

"Abe? Abe, can you hear me?" The man had difficulties to stop his hands from shaking.

"Yeah, what's up, man? Do you know where the girl is?" Came the deep voice of 'Abe' through the device.

The big man gulped. Saying it out loud will make it all the more reality, something that he would prefer not.

"H-Hai, I know where the girl is. Contact the others teams and tell them to come down."

"Ok. Hey man, are you sure you are ok? You sound funny."

"I…it's just that the girl had been blocked in the elevator all night along…and she isn't alone."

"In the elevator?! Isn't there supposed to be something to prevent that kind of things? Poor girl. To stay inside this small metallic cage all night long must have been Hell. And you said that she isn't alone? Do you know who is in there with her?"

_'Unfortunately,' _ the big man thought grimly. But he didn't answer, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"Ok, my brother had called the others teams, they are coming down. So who is with the girl? Do I know her or him?" the voice of Abe said after a moment.

"H-hai, everyone knows him."

"Oh come on man, tell me who it is! I'm dying here!"

The man gulped again. Perspiration was running down his back. "It's…it's Takahashi."

From the sound, Abe must have let the talky-walky fell from the shock. "You are kidding, right?" he asked, his voice quavering, a lot less sulfuring and deep.

"No, I'm not."

The line went dead for a moment. Then, "Ok. I will inform the others. Over."

The big man inhaled sharply and then phoned the company responsible of the maintenance of the elevators. They had to get their boss—and the girl—out of that elevator as soon as possible.

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That was then, around 8 o'clock as the first employees were starting to arrive that the two poor trapped people were finally released.

The big man had been scared to death, like all the security's squad when they were waiting for the door to be opened by the maintenance team. Their boss was a frightening man...err Daiyoukai...and his anger was legendary. They knew of his less than friendly feelings towards the human community, and even if it had gotten better during the last years, they didn't wish to have to face him after he had to spend a whole night trapped in a limited space with a human female.

They were literally pissing their pants. They were frightened beyond imagination at the idea of what Sesshoumaru would do to them for not having found him and released him sooner. The Daiyoukai was renowned for not being very forgiving.

So imagine everyone surprise when their boss walked out calmly and didn't go feral while threatening their life. Even more incredible, he seemed, dare they think, in a fairly good mood, like no one had saw him in ages—if ever. On top of it, he was shockingly openly flirting with the human girl he had been trapped with in front of everyone. It was really a first for them to witness his actions when he was usually more likely to be shaking off women who were clutching at him.

When Sesshoumaru had passed him, eyes twinkling, the big man had been shocked further when he unconsciously took a sniff of the air; a sweet feminine scent was covering and hanging onto his boss's body.

That was when he turned his head dumbfound as the girl, owner of said feminine scent, was walking out. She seemed a little lost; the sweet little thing. He had seen that she was rather cute on the security's cameras but seeing her in real, he understood immediately why his boss hadn't passed on the opportunity to get a taste of the delicious looking female, even if she was human.

From the look of it, Sesshoumaru had done more than just taste the young irresistible body, but had literally ravaged it. That was when the girl had learned who her elevator companion of the night really was. Apparently, the sweet little thing didn't know who she was with and who had done her as she just promptly fell unconscious.

The scent of his master and employer was clutching at her form like a second skin, making it obvious to every youkai, even the ones with a weak sense of smell, of what occurred between the two during the night. But beyond that, the raccoon youkai could smell her beautiful scent and even detect something shocking; the purity in it. She was a Miko.

He had heard others talking about a new human in the building when he had taken his shift that seemed to have turned the heads of most of the building's male population who had crossed her path. So from the gossip, Hachi, the big man, had deduced that she was the new assistant of his boss, and it was confirmed by Sesshoumaru, making her the second Miko working inside their walls. Funny, when you know that almost all the employees here were youkai.

Even now, as he looked around, it seemed as if she was drawing all the unmated's—though some mated's too—attention to her without even doing anything. Then, there were the evil looks that some demonesses present were sending to her unconscious form; as if she had stolen the bread from their months or so to speak.

Hachi was sad for the girl because she would have to stay on her toes and be cautious around those bitches. Then there were the males. They would soon try to get what Sesshomaru had had. They knew that once the demon Lord had had his 'fill,' he didn't even glance towards the woman again. It had been like that with every demoness. The bitches were still trying to get their claws back on the young rich bachelor because of his social statue and money and of course without forgetting his looks. But that was all. Sesshoumaru knew that and that was why, even when he graced one of those greedy bitches in heat with a moment of his attentions, it never exceeded a couple of days.

However, from the way he had acted around her in front of everyone, Hachi doubted that his Lord would let any of those males anywhere close to her anytime soon. It wasn't a lot, but the almost playful words of the usually stoic male had really surprised him to the core.

Hachi walked towards the fallen form of the Miko, that way, keeping everyone away from her for the time being. While looking at her, he could understand his Lord though. She wasn't like any of those girls that were usually turning around him and she didn't seem like the type to run after him as if she was permanently in heat for his wealth! Hachi had always been gifted to be able to analyze one character only by observing him or her for a moment. She was a pure little thing that had no idea of what Hell would befall her because of what had transpired between her and Sesshoumaru. The poor girl…

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However, that wasn't exactly what was said to Mrs. Higurashi to explain her daughter's disappearance. In fact, they didn't say a lot to her. They just told her that the girl, her daughter, was fine and had been trapped in an elevator all the night. Nothing more was said and the cops had left the shrine.

When Mrs. Higurashi had seen her daughter, she immediately felt that something wasn't right. Her suspicion was confirmed by her behavior during the weekend and this morning wasn't an exception.

It wasn't uncommon or strange for her daughter to have difficulties in getting out of bed, but today it seemed different. It was as if…as if she really didn't want to go to work at that place. She had been so excited before her interview and nervous about it. Then, she had acted weirdly during all the weekend.

Had her being trapped in one of the elevators all night long at her new work place make her rethink about working at that place altogether?

Her poor baby must have been so frightened inside of the cold metal box all the night alone. Then Mrs. Higurashi thought about something that hadn't come to her mind before: was she truly alone or had one of the employees been there with her? Maybe something went wrong with that person and that's why she refused to speak about it?

It already had been difficult to make Kagome say where she passed the night…if it hadn't been for the officer, she wouldn't have known.

Mrs. Higurashi then sighed; suddenly feeling tired and went back in the kitchen. She found her son, Souta, there, already up and about, silently finishing his breakfast.

"Where is Kagome?" he asked softly while looking up from his corn flakes. He looked as his mother turned to him and tried to smile.

"She will be down soon," she answered simply.

Souta too was suspicious. His sister was acting really weird…well like all older sibling he guessed but, even if he would never admit it out loud, he was somewhat proud to have her as his sister. It was just so strange to have her act that way.

He gulped down his orange juice and walked upstairs to see if she was really getting up.

As he expected, she was still sleeping, or at least she was under her sheets when he walked in. He sighed. Something was definitely wrong. It was the only explanation for the fact that she wasn't already screaming at him for coming in her bedroom without knocking.

Souta bit his bottom lip, a nervous trait that every member of the family seemed to possess. He didn't know what to do or say to make her feel better. Instinctively, he knew that something wasn't right with her. She was his big sister after all. For him, she wasn't excessively difficult to read most of the time, like he was an open book for her. Today was one of these days were he could see that something was wrong with her, but he didn't know what.

He looked towards the door to make sure that their mother hadn't followed him upstairs. He would be really embarrassed if someone were to see what he was about to do. He would deny it with all he had that he had never done anything like what he was about to do in his whole life. It was just too...embarrassing. She was his older sister for Kami's sake and a boy shouldn't do something as 'girly' as to try to comfort his older sibling, or at least not with any witness. He was just not too comfortable with someone seeing him act too caring with his sister.

When he was sure that no one was around, he then sat down on the bed.

"What's wrong, sis'?" he whispered, letting one of his hands fall on the bed where he could see the shape of her leg under the sheets.

He felt her move a little and he heard her sigh then turning under the sheets to face him. What was shocking for Souta was that she seemed already really awaken...or like she hadn't sleep at all. Any other day, she would be groaning, her eyes closed or unfocused and her mind fuzzy from sleep.

Their eyes clashed for a moment then Kagome looked away. If Souta didn't know better, he would have said that his sister looked somewhat...guilty? Ashamed? He blinked.

"It's nothing, squirt. Hm, are you ready for school?" she answered quietly, trying to take his attention away from the subject in the same breath.

But Souta didn't buy it one a bit.

"Can't you tell me? You look like you have something on your conscience or something. You barely ate the entire weekend and slept very little. Everyone knows that you eat a lot, even if you aren't fat at all. For you, to not eating means that something is wrong. You can't fool me so easily. Even Mom is upset and doesn't know what to do to make you feel better since no one knows where the problem lays. Did something happen? When you were at the company, perhaps? That would explain why you look like someone who had stolen a cookie from a famish kid."

Kagome didn't moved or speak.

"Kagome?"

"I will be down in a minute. Don't worry so much, squirt. You should go or you will be late for school," she told him quietly, still not looking at him.

Understanding that he won't be able to get more out of her, Souta resolved himself to let it go, for now.

"Ok. See you after work?"

He saw her nodded her head and left her alone.

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End of the chapter 1.

Well, hope to have satisfied you all.

My other story "captured and trapped" is still continuing and we are closing to the end of the first part. A small one-shot, "betrayal" had been posted a few days ago. Oh and a new story, co-authored with chante-chan will be on really really soon too. :D

Much love,

Sweetest angel


	2. Chap2: I don't want to go, part2

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all fine! ^^

I must admit, I was a little frightened to know how you will receive the sequel of "in the elevator". It was the first story (beside one-shots) that I have ever completed and the decision of doing a sequel or not had not been that easy. I'm so glad and surprised by the warm welcome of this new story and sequel. Thank you so much!

I apologize because this time, I hadn't the time to answer to all and every review but I promise to do it next time!

So thank you to : **PsychoKoolaid, GeorgieGirl999, LadyofDarkness24, Sesshomaru is Fluffy Evil, purropolisprincess, Lauren, SakuraBlossom24, JenJen Midnightgirl, angelorumzero, iLovePun, angelapage, chiimurasaki, poisonflower, broken hearted n hurt, kashiangel07, DONTmessWITHme, ObSeSsEd WiTh ROXAS, Jade Lotus, EternalLove495, dark shadowed rose, Deazana, SoMeWhErE ****iN****tHe**** MiDdLe, Kitsune Diva, monkey-101, Asherah4u, loonaboo, RyuuMahou, Person Of A Strange Origin, zoepearl, love109, BadWolf-Phoenix, Sessho's Lover, Jay_chAn, purplefav, ishala8, pandora-of-****the****-south, sakura-charmed, KitsuneNaru, Asherah4u, MiladyPrincess, sunkissedkelsey, Viridis**, for their review!

Wow, so much! O_O

Thank you! Thank you!

Thanks to **Ryuumahou** for the corrections!

I don't own InuYasha.

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Chapter 2 :

I don't want to go, part 2

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Kagome held her breathe as she was attentively listening the sound of her little brother, Souta, as he walked down the stairs slowly.

When she was sure that the boy was out of hearing range, Kagome sighed and pulled off the sheets from over her head.

At first, the light of the sun filtered by the curtains of her bedroom windows was still too strong and blinding for Kagome, obligating to keep her eyes close a moment longer. After a moment, as her eyes were getting used to it, her eyes slid opened.

The young woman didn't move. She just fixed her eyes on the ceiling of her room, trying to gather up her thoughts. She knew that she must have hurt her little brother's feelings when she dismissed him and his worries. It was evident with the way he had dejectedly walked out of her bedroom. She could tell only by the sound of his steps when he exited.

She must have hurt her mother's pretty badly too, but what could she do? It wasn't like she could tell them why she wasn't feeling at the top of her form! How could she confess to her family that she didn't want to get up and go to work because she had given, without her knowledge, her precious virginity to her new big boss and was too afraid to face him now?!

The poor woman groaned again.

What should she do? She knew that, by now, all the company must be aware of what had transpired between her and Sesshomaru. '_Takahashi-sama!'_ she mentally reminded herself. She will have to be careful and not call him by his first name from now on, even in the confines of her mind because it would only worsen the situation if she was to let it slip at work. _Work_. Yes, at one moment or another, she would have to go back there. Would she be able to step in one of the elevators without risking the heart attack? Nothing was less sure. _Work_. Everyone must already know what happened, she was sure of it and if not, then she was pretty sure that they will be able to smell it. Oh Kami, how could she face anyone now? '_They will all think that I purposely slept with Sesshomaru to have the job. Takahashi-sama!_'

It was still difficult to associate, even just in thoughts, Sesshomaru and everything they shared that night, with The Takahashi-sama, CEO of one of the most famous and big company of the whole Japan! Kagome groaned anew.

But aside from her shame…well not really shame, more like the fear of how people will see her now, to have slept with her boss and that everyone know it, there was something far worse than that that was eating her.

This problem could really be solve quickly sure, she just had to voice her question but she was seriously frightening by the possible answer. Several different scenarios went through her head during the weekend of how things could go but nothing she could imagine was able to settle her heart at ease. The doubt was there, growing after each ticking minute, driving her to the limit of the insanity. The response of this troubling question could be easily obtained but she wasn't sure that she was ready to hear it.

Did she have this job _because_ she slept with him?

That question had haunted her since Saturday morning. Would he have really given her the job, only because of what happened between them or was there a chance that he had hired her for her capabilities and not because the sex was good.

Kagome blushed when the last thought passed her mind. Well, it was the truth, it had been good. Maybe if she had known that it was so great she wouldn't have waited so long…but, at the same time, never before had she felt as strong an attraction as she had felt that day for that man, err, male. Well, the fact that she was so stressed at the moment could have obscured her judgment. She would probably not have given in so easily in another situation.

She sighed. Kagome got up and started to get ready for her day of work. As she was looking for what she could wear, her eyes fell on her ruined blouse suspended on the door of her wardrobe. She flustered as memories of that fateful day flashed in her mind.

It was her favorite blouse and her mother knew it. When she had seen in which state it was, she had proposed to sew bottoms back on. Kagome didn't know why but she had panicked and said she would do it. Maybe she wasn't ready to erase all traces of what happened so rapidly, she didn't even know herself.

Oh she knew that certain traces of his scent for example, will take time before been intimately washed away but it wasn't something she could touch and see.

Mentally, she profusely thanked her mother again to have forced her to be on the pill. She, at least, wouldn't have to be worried of ending up pregnant after their one night stand. A one night stand. Never before would she have thought that she was the type to have one night stand relationship but what was done, was done and she couldn't change it.

Gathering up her courage, she continued to get ready.

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Kagome was now standing in front of the building, still hesitating to go in. When she had walked down, she avoided her mother, not wishing to answer her questions. She felt bad about it but she couldn't do anything else. If her mother was to probe too much, Kagome wasn't sure that she wouldn't spill out some compromising details that the old woman shouldn't know about her daughter.

So the young woman just yelled out that she was going and went out before her mother could ask anything. She felt guilty to act that way around her family, but it was the only thing that could keep her going at the moment. If her family was to hear what happened now, she would probably just abandon and refuse to go out of her room for the rest of her life. That was if she had the courage to face anyone long enough to walk through her house to her bedroom.

As Kagome was adding the last touch of her light make-up, her cell phone rang. It had been her best friend, Sango. Apparently, the young woman had heard about her little problem on that fateful Friday and how she came back home only on Saturday morning. Of course, she heard about the 'purged' version that had been served to Mrs. Higurashi.

So Sango had called her that Monday morning to congratulate her and wished her good luck for her first day of work…or at least, it had been her intention at first. Kagome didn't know if it was because they had been as close as sisters since the day of their first meeting, during their freshman year in high school, but with the minimum of talking, she had been able to tell immediately that her friend wasn't well and was hiding something. The young woman had never been a sweet talker and was rather blunt in everything she did, so the woman furiously and mercilessly probed Kagome to have satisfactory answers. She had known that something must have happened to her friend that day, and wouldn't relent until she had all her answers.

Kagome had panicked, knowing that she had never been able to hide anything from her friend in all the years they had known each other. Kagome had felt cornered but succeeded in saving herself some time by talking about everything that happened BEFORE the trip in the elevator. She explained in details about the bitching females that were there more to have a chance in jumping her new boss than really for the job. Of course, Sango asked what he looked like, if he had as much of a body killer as the rumors said and if the whores, at least, had some taste. At that moment, Kagome almost chocked. Her friend didn't know of course, but she knew, first hand, that the rumors on that point weren't lying. Sango was worried and asked what was wrong when her friend dropped the phone.

Kagome had tried to cover up as she could, laughing weakly as she said how could she know? Not wanting more questioning, and after promising that she would explain everything later, she hung up, saying that she was going to be late for her first day.

She had been so embarrassed to have reacted like that but she was sure that her friend would hear the whole truth very soon, whether she wanted it or not and frankly, she was worried. What would her friend think of her after that?

Well, if she was honest, she was pretty sure that Sango would laugh her ass off and probably congratulate her, without forgetting to ask every little detail. Sango would say that she was lucky. But there was still the chance that she would be disappointed in her and Kagome preferred to wait later the confirmation or invalidation of her thoughts.

So now she was standing in front of the building. She knew that as soon as she would walk in, everyone in the lobby will turn to her. She was sure of it.

On the way, as she was travelling in the metro, she was sitting in front of two demons. During all the way, they talked among themselves while sending glances in her direction. She wasn't absolutely sure but she thought that they could smell Him on her. Why every demon crossing her path would turn around to look at her if it wasn't for that?

She had never been so embarrassed in her life. Hell, she had enough embarrassment to last for a life time! It was mortifying and it was only the beginning of the day! Even now, as she was facing the building, the two guards at the door were scenting the air and fixing her with heavy gazes.

She was sure that they knew. Was she really ready to walk in and confront everyone's critical eyes? She wasn't so sure anymore. At the moment, she was just praying that the Earth would crack open and swallow her whole to save her from anymore humiliation.

Kagome shook herself. Now wasn't the time to turn around and run like a coward. It was too late. After all, she didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't like she had jumped on Sesshomaru to have the post! Now, as soon as she saw him, she would ask for his reasons for giving her the job. If it had anything to do with what happened between them, then she would leave to never come back. It was a promise she had done with herself to find the courage to be there today.

If she was sincere, she would say that if Sesshomaru's reason to give her the job was because of their 'intercourse' then she would be severely disappointed. Not because she would have to abandon the job, even if it was the most important company in Japan, an experience unique, but she would be disappointed in him. She felt a sort of connection with Sesshomaru when they had shared the small space that was the elevator when she had no idea of who he was. It would mean that she had misjudged him greatly. Oh, she didn't think that it meant anything more than what it was, a one night stand, but still, once the uneasiness passed, she was sure that she could work for and with Sesshomaru efficiently.

But before that, she had to survive the day. Yes, before the end of the day, she would make sure to have her answer…


	3. Chap3: First steps in the Lions’ dent

Reviews' reply:

**kashiangel07 :** don't worry, I understand totally your feelings ! ^^ thanks for your review.

**scarlet witch extreme** : sorry but you will have to wait for the next chapter ! :P hope you still will like this chapter!

**Tales Reign **: hope you are happy, she is walking in, in this chapter ! lol as for her "reacquainting" with 'sesshy-sama', it will have to wait for the next! Thanks for your review.

**pinky-fluff** : *grin* well, it isn't her imagination ! lol

Thanks to : **SakuraBlossom24, Asherah4u, my name is paper YAH, seshiechick69, Tsukiyomi No Miko, panchat, cutebaby, SoMeWhErE ****iN****tHe**** MiDdLe, Arryelle, monkey-101, mysexeyedwardcullen, purropolisprincess, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (what the?, :p), sunkissedkelsey, kanna of ****the**** void, pandora-of-****the****-south, xiDOREyoux and CrimsonTears,** for their review too!

Your comments are much appreciated! Thank you so much!

I will try to update again soon but it could be difficult. Classes started again and I have not much free time. But don't worry, it will come.

Thank you to my beta for her hard work!!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

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Chapter 3 :

First steps in the Lions' dent

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He was sighing for the nth time since the morning. After the incident of the weekend, everyone had been in ebullition, gossiping like crazy at every turn. He had not been there to witness the event, that Saturday morning, but he had heard about it at least ten times! Worst, he had not been there for more than two hours!

Now, behind his counter, he was watching in distaste as every male in the building was finding one pretext or another to pass through the lobby, in hope to get a peek at the lucky human woman who had caught the attention of their boss so thoroughly. So much so that he had forgotten his distaste for humans for one night of passion. When Takahashi had come in, he had asked Shippo precisely to call him when the woman would come. His boss had a reunion for most of the morning, but he still insisted to be told when she would be there. In itself, it was a proof that Takahashi-sama respected her.

With all the other assistants his father had chosen for him in the past, he had not even thought them worthy enough to be welcome by him personally or really instructed for the work they had to do. They had to figure out what to do by themselves, with some help from the old Kaede, but with this one, it was totally different. The young demon had seen for the first time the eyes of his boss twinkle—yes, _twinkle_—when speaking about the woman. Normally, when the eyes or face of Sesshomaru expressed something, it was when he was about to destroy the life and or the company of his opponent! So it was really perplexing. The DaiYoukai had, from what he had heard, obtained what he wanted from the girl and usually that meant that he would now ignore her very existence, if not shun her. However, from his comportment, Sesshomaru did not seem like he had finished with the young human yet.

Shippo remembered the woman… after all, she had been the only one human who had came for the interview so it was not difficult to deduce that it was effectively her. But what had more captured the young kitsune's attention was that she had been the only decent one too! It was evident, even for him, that those women were not really there for the job but more to have a chance with the interviewer! That type of women really made him want to throw up!

That girl, though, had been different. She was really beautiful in her own right, in a natural and pure sense, opposed to the vulgar and artificial beauty of the others who had come for the interview too. She had a beautiful melodic voice to complete the picture. He might still be considered as an adolescent in youkai term, but he could still objectively judge as an adult if a woman is pretty or not. She was rather shy from what he had seen of her that day. However, when his friend, Miroku, had taken some liberties with her...posterior...she had transformed before their astonished eyes, in a real wild cat! He had really been surprised.

Shippo had discussed it briefly with Hachi—the other guard who had been in post this weekend. The two of them had come to the same conclusions. That human seemed like a good person. The relations between humans and demons had never been really peaceful. When knowing their real nature, they did not act the same way around youkai. That girl knew that most of the building was only with youkai and didn't seem to mind at all. Shippo thought he had heard her said something about the building been filled with youkai when she had walked to his desk the first time and Hachi had confirmed that she probably could tell they were youkai since, when he had carried her to the car which had driven her home, he had felt her holy powers brushing against him, and to his surprise they weren't aggressive at all. So it was confirmed that she knew about what they were. It further proved that she was different from most humans. Hell, she had passed the night with one of the most powerful DaiYoukai of the world knowing what he was!

Knowing that, the two guards hoped that things would go well between the young woman and their powerful demon Lord of a boss and that his interest wouldn't vanish over night. Hachi had explained in detail what he had observed that Saturday morning, and the interaction between Sesshomaru and the human. Shippo had admit that he was as shocked as his co-worker and friend had been when he heard about it. The kitsune had started to work at Takahashi Inc. around the same time Sesshomaru had taken the control of the company in place of his father and never had he seen or heard about his boss acting that way to anyone. The playful tone, flirting acts, If Shippo was not trusting Hachi, never would he have believed that their boss had acted that way with anyone, much less with a human. Bitches were circling around Sesshomaru like sharks all the time, waiting for the opportunity to drive their claws in their boss, and never had the kitsune seen him grant them more than a passing glance, when they were lucky. So Shippo was crossing his fingers and with Hachi, they had agreed on trying to protect and help the girl, as much as they could. They knew really well that things would be a great deal difficult for her and, even if they couldn't do much, they still wished the best for the poor human.

She was different and in itself, it was a nice change. Usually, it was Takahashi Father who was still in charge to choose the assistant of Sesshomaru. However, the two friends were pretty sure that the criteria of selection had little to do with their curriculum vitae! Either they had given themselves to the father or the younger son, who was able to convince his father about almost anything, or they were "daughters of" and then possessed a good pedigree, richness of wallet, richness of cleavage, but with the intellect of an oyster! Some daddy-little girls brainless and in heat, that's what they were.

In fact, it was acknowledged that Takahashi gave them the job in hope to be able to force Sesshomaru to choose a mate and start making grand-pups immediately. The old DaiYoukai was impatient to hold in his arms the next generation.

Their boss refused to go to any party organized in the high society to find a mate so the father had to be cunning to find a way to make his son and girls of his choice, in touch. Oh, he was not looking for the perfect mate for his son, so to speak, only according to their pedigree. The main points were that she had to be from a rich family, youkai, and have a pretty face to make cute grand-pups, that's all.

Unfortunately, for him, all his previous tentative plans had always finished in a catastrophe. This time, Takahashi senior had a small victory: Sesshomaru had, against his wishes of course, accepted to go to one and only one diner with one girl that his father would have chosen for him and, in exchange, the old demon was letting Sesshomaru choose, with his own criteria, the person who would become his new assistant. Sesshomaru wanted someone efficient and not just a pretty face who just wanted to end up in his bed. He was tired of his father's choices. It was funny really, now that Shippo was thinking about it, since Sesshomaru had ended up sleeping with the woman he chose for the post! To Sesshomaru's grand misfortune, the woman chosen by his father for the diner had been Yura. Poor man, indeed. Now, the harpy refused to leave Sesshomaru alone. Maybe she had taken the diner really seriously, like a real date, or something. Shippo shuddered. Who would want to go out, or worse, _mate_, something like her! The kitsune was not sure to even know someone desperate enough to want that!

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……………

_Later…_

……………

Shippo let out a chuckle when he watched the young woman, Kagome, walking towards the door leading to the stairs, avoiding the elevators. He could have almost sworn that he saw her narrow her eyes at the shinning doors of the elevators. The memories must have been too fresh on her mind to climb back so soon in one of the metallic boxes where she had been trapped in all the night not two days ago. Though, the young kitsune pitied her for her choice, even if he understood it: she was working at the seventeenth floor after all!

Shaking his head, Shippo reached for the telephone. After two rings, someone answered.

"Yes?" came the deep velvet but cold voice of his boss.

"Sesshomaru-sama? It is Shippo, from the lobby. It was just to inform you that Miss Higurashi is in the building as you instructed me to. I have passed along her cart and pass. She has taken the stairs to your floor."

"Hn. The stairs?"

"Hai, my Lord. Miss Higurashi seemed a little stressed because of the looks she was receiving from the others employees and even more nervous to climb in an elevator so soon, so she favored the stairs this time."

A long silence issued after his sentence, making Shippo unconsciously hold in his breathe.

"Thanks Shippo," Sesshomaru said in a tone of voice which surprised the young kitsune to the core.

"I…A-at your service, Sesshomaru-sama," he said after a moment, but his boss had already hung up.

Shippo's mouth stayed open, looking incredulously at the telephone. Was it...was it amusement he heard in Sesshomaru's voice? And did he really thank him?

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Kagome finally reached her floor. She had chosen to use the stairs, not really sure that she would be able to use an elevator so soon after the 'incident' of the last week. Plus, thanks to the stairs, she had avoided finding herself in a confined space with any of her co-workers. Her eyes narrowed as she thought back to what happened when she had finally found the courage to walk in the building. It had been as if half of the workers of the company had been there. Now, she understood what the animals felt like at the zoo. She felt cornered with all those people looking at her.

What was funny was that everyone seemed to keep a reasonable distance from her, as if afraid to enter in contact with her. However, that did not stop them from leering at her. Really, she felt like a piece of meat throw in the cage of six weeks-food deprived carnivores. It was as if they were afraid to come and eat her or rather they were waiting to be sure that the dominant male was not hungry for more before pouncing on her.

As she saw a couple of them smell the air from the corner of her eyes, she had an idea of what seemed to attract them and keep them at bay at the same time. Not wanted to linger on, she quickly made her way to the desk sitting in the middle of the lobby, recognizing the young boy from Friday. A

After that, she had quickly taken her carts and made a bee line towards the stairs.

She was huffing and puffing when she reached her floor. In her precipitation, she had forgotten that her office was on the seventeenth floor! She was truly exhausted when she reached her destination. Getting herself more presentable while catching her breath, she mentally thanked the steps back home because it had been a great training for today. She did not think that she would have been able to climb all the 17 floors if she had not been use to climb up and down the countless steps of her family Shrine several times a day. Sometimes, she was persuaded that one of the principal reasons of the small quantity of visitors on the shrine grounds—aside from during the festivals—was because of those damned steps! Well, at least, as her mother would say, the good point in them was that she could have firm legs easily, just by going home, when others had to work hard.

She opened the door of her floor and froze.

It seemed like words had spread that she was there while she was climbing. She had thought that crossing the lobby would have been the most difficult ordeal of the day…big mistake.

A handful of women, all youkai, were waiting for her. The hostility of the atmosphere was making it difficult for Kagome to even breathe properly, while keep her own power in check; not one female wasn't glaring down at her. In the back, she could see some males and it was evident that they would not interfere to help her. If she had felt like a cornered piece of meat earlier, it was now worse.

It was too much for her to take in. The small confidence that she had had until now crumbled at her feet. She lowered her head, unable to walk away as every hateful female were sneering at her. She knew that it had been a bad idea to come there and accept the job, even more after what happened between her and the boss. It was an opportunity to work in such an important company and it made her family proud, so she couldn't refuse. But she should have and more importantly just made a phone call and not come. She felt disgusted with her cowardice, but at the moment, she couldn't help it. It was too many shocks in too little time. In two days, she had to support horrible whoring demonesses for hours while stressing for her interview. Then, she had tried to cool off, and she ended up trapped in the elevator. She lost her virginity to the man with whom she had been trapped with, only to find out that he was her boss. To top everything, everyone knew what happened to her. And while she did not really regret or was ashamed of what happened, it was disturbing and embarrassing that everyone knew about it.

"What do you think you are doing here, human?" one of the females said venomously at her, while stepping closer to her. It was as if she had sent the signal for the beginning of the hostility.

"Get out of here or we will make you!"

"No one wants you here, so you should leave to home when you still can!"

"Yeah, it would be regrettable if something was to happen to you, whore…"

With each hateful words, the horde of angered bitches were coming closer to Kagome, shoving her. The young miko was shocked by their reactions and did not know how to react, freezing her in place.

"Have you no shame to show your face here where everyone knows how you obtained this post, you whore?"

"I didn't…" she started to defend herself but was interrupted.

"You didn't _what_?!" the demoness said in a sneer, pushing her violently.

Finally, Kagome came out of her state of shock from their hostility and intended to give them a piece of her mind when she fell on the ground. She could understand that they were angry or jealous but there were limits to not cross. Her eyes narrowed and her powers sparked to life. Without realizing, the horde stepped back. She didn't like confrontation, but it was just too much this time. She was about to get up and defend her honor when someone on the back talk.

"What is happening here?" an old raspy voice questioned firmly from behind them. Everyone turned to face the new arriver who just came out of the elevator: Kaede.

Kagome looked down, feeling suddenly very small. She always felt like that when the old miko was angry. Ever since her instruction in the miko ways by Kaede, each time the old woman was angry, Kagome felt like she was back to the little girl being scolded for not concentrating enough during her lessons.

"I'm waiting for some explanation. And Kagome-child, what are you doing on the floor?"

"I…tripped." she lied lamentably in a timid voice. Kaede narrowed her eyes at the others, obviously not believing her in the slightest.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Get back to work. Sesshomaru-sama will most likely not be happy if he were to walk in now, seeing all of you idling around like that in the corridor instead of working."

Realizing that not much could be done for the moment, the women sent one last glare towards the now rising little human, before going to their respective desk.

It was only the beginning.

The message was clear in their eyes…


End file.
